Back Stabbers (1972)
Since We’re Talking Philly Soul…
… We might as well go straight to the source. A breakthrough release not only for the long-standing O’Jays, but an album that helped to put Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records on the map. Fueled by mostly Gamble & Huff tunes, including “Love Train,” the basis for Soul Train‘s theme song, Back Stabbers is all you’d need to hand an alien being to explain the Philly Soul sound – a sensuously sweet mix of soulful harmonies, sweeping strings, persistently inviting rhythms and note-perfect arrangements. At Amazon (HERE) you can buy the downloads for $9.99, or get the hard disc new for only $4.99, and get the MP3s for free. Go figure. Speaking of Gamble & Huff, we’ve got a great, promo-only comp, I Love Music: The Songs Of Gamble & Huff, in the archives (HERE).
When The World’s At Peace (5:21)
Back Stabbers (3:08)
Who Am I (5:13)
(They Call Me) Mr. Lucky (3:20)
Time To Get Down (2:52)
992 Arguments (6:08)
Listen To The Clock On The Wall (3:47)
Shiftless, Shady, Jealous Kind Of People (3:37)
Sunshine (3:43)
Love Train (2:59)
15 Comments
Search HERE
When these tunes were on the radio back in the 70s, I couldn’t stand to listen to them. They sound great now. If I only had a better radio then, I’m almost certain I would have liked them.
There was just something missing on my transistor radio with the 1 1/2 inch speaker. They did sound a little better on my parents big table model radio with the 3 inch speaker.
Some songs were mixed to sound great on crappy equipment, but these were not among them.
Thanks for giving me a second chance to appreciate these little masterpieces.
I feel as though I should start a love train, love train…
But to follow up Muddy’s observations, most people had the three-inch boxes back in ’72, and Gamble and Huff, as did Phil Spector and Tom Dowd and a few others, knew how to make a groove kick through limited bandwidth speakers, and it wasn’t by overcompressing the whole mix.
The operative philosophy was, if it sounds good on a car radio, imagine how much better it’ll sound on a decent stereo, and, thanks to this post, it’s an easy theory to prove.
For some more Philly, I have upped “Various Artists – The Philly Sound_Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and the Story of Brotherly Love (1966-1976)”. Its a 3CD and covers Gamble and Huff from the beginning. It is a lovely compilation. I do hope you like it as much as I do!
Enjoy!
Here
Here
and Here
Thanks DonFO.
Wow! Nice Pic!
Wanted to see if it easily worked (and to draw some attention to it). Thanks again.
I had always been a 60s soul man; most of the local bands did at least some Atlantic/Atco/Stax classics in the 60s. By the time I started working at my first record store in 1971 I was all mixed up in Progressive Rock, Anything connected with Neil Young, The Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds. One of my co-workers was from the ‘city’ and I was a suburb boy and he turned me on to current soul and jazz. The O’Jays, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye’s early 70s output soon became as much a part of me as the blues, country and glam. God, those were heady times. I have fond memories of taking my first work vacation down to Philly and the Jersey Shore with al that soul (and a host of cool cut outs of things like Family “In A Doll’s House) on 8 track when I wasn’t listening to WDAY and WMMR on the road. ‘Love Train’ is one of my all time faves. It was always too short. Guess what? Eventually I found a 5+ minute remix that really doesn’t alter the song the way a lot of other remixes do. I have it STILL on vinyl and then on an Epic/CBS compilation of extended remixes. Maybe this summer I can dig it out when this cold abates and I can make some room out on the lawn to sort through stuff.
I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in the days of colorblind FM radio. It was a treat hearing Al Green, Stevie Wonder and the O’Jays next to the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and the Doobie Brothers.
My thoughts 100% exactly. Except that up in icy Maine there were some soul sides (not most let me emphasize) that were national hits, but that they never played up there and so I didn’t hear them until they were oldies.
On the other hand, I suspect it was the French Quebec presence that let me hear “C;est Plaine Pour Moi” all over the dial.
Ace
ditto on that colorblind radio, La Piazza Gancio. I was doubly lucky since our free-form FM also had a DEEP Soul show every morning. I recall it being piped into the jail I occupied briefly in the early 70s doing time for the usual and being a fan thereafter. It made me deeply aware of 70s soul and especially Memphis & Muscle Shoals’ Soul in particular. Those were the days.
Thank you, DonFO and Willard. I dig ths all-over-the-map blog and the intelligent choices from same. Looking forward to the 3cd set, in the hopes it has some rarities i don’t already have. I love Philly Soul! And the Wormholes!
Yeah, that set’s a nice addition. Thanks for commenting.
Will always be one of my very favorite records ,and the comp looks great as well..looking forward to that,thanks Willard and DonFO !
Thanks, mon Capitan.